Woodworking machines utilize various means of positioning or securing a workpiece as it is cut, drilled or routed. As standard equipment a pocket hole jig is usually secured to a movable plywood base. The usual approach is to add a piece of plywood (or other wood board) to the bottom of the jig, called an auxiliary table top, to provide a more stable surface to secure and control the workpiece. By adding a board that is the same thickness as the pocket hole jig to the auxiliary table top the workpiece is supported closely adjacent to the drill guide and there is less chance of the workpiece moving or sliding during the drilling operation. By adding an extra board to the side of the pocket hole jig, a stop system such as the one featured in U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,641 can be added to the pocket hole jig set up. The benefit of this technique is that the operator knows that the end of the board being drilled is accurately positioned. The accuracy of processing multiple pieces is improved with a stop system. There is no mechanism for adding the extrusions of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,641 to the portable base.
Workpieces with identical holes can then be drilled consistently improving the workmanship of a project. KREG Tool offers an optional material support stop that has a base that is the same height as the K3 and K4 jig bottoms so a long workpiece or panel is supported with the bottom of the workpiece parallel to the floor of the jig. This technique of using the material support base eliminates the tedious task of lining up and holding the workpiece in place. In addition, a flippable arm can be fitted to the base with an adjustable bolt for fine tuning the position of the board in relationship to the flip stop. Although the KREG support stop can be used to support the bottom of the workpiece and position the board with the flip stop feature there is a problem with doing both the support and measuring feature at the same time because the base and the flip arm are the same width. The wide part of the flip arm occupies the same space as the workpiece when it is flipped into position.
As standard equipment, the KREG jig has three lines on the floor of the base that are aligned with the center of the pocket hole drill guide. Theoretically, the line could be used to line up a stop for making constant multiple pieces but they are small and are often covered by the workpiece. The outside of the hole would be a better reference for positioning the workpiece in relationship to the hole (s) or hole combinations. The KREG flip stops that are currently available are not amenable to use for miter workpieces. Known techniques for aligning the workpiece for the stationary jig and the portable base have typically been different from each other especially since there is no stop system currently manufactured or sold that fits the KREG portable base.